Not much happening here. The kiddo and husband have had a cold since Saturday. SOME how I haven’t caught it. Crossing all the things that I never catch it. Please oh please.

I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

- Chelsey

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If you have a Wednesday post, please feel free to link it up below. And, feel free to link up to these blogs too… Parenting by Dummies, Project Alicia, Jenni from the Blog, In The Moment With, and Live and Love Outloud.

My kiddo is now 100% potty trained. She’s been day time potty trained since October…. but now she can sleep through the night without a diaper! So happy to be done with pull ups. Plus, she’s so proud of herself. This calls for a celebration. Wine for me and a treat for her! Hee.

Side note: now realizing that my kiddo is really growing up. So many of the emotions right now.

- Chelsey

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If you have a Wednesday post, please feel free to link it up below. And, feel free to link up to these blogs too… Parenting by Dummies, Project Alicia, Jenni from the Blog, In The Moment With, and Live and Love Outloud.

The Seventh Generation Video in this post is sponsored.

Almost daily I think about having another kiddo. I’d love to just say, “Yeah, let’s do this and create another life.” But, I can’t. I wish there was no risk for me carrying a baby. I wish the only decision we have to make is when to start trying. Unfortunately, that’s not the situation we’re in.

Every time I start doing the research and getting all the information for gestational surrogacy, I get overwhelmed by the cost/time/emotional stuff of it all. My husband and I have been wanting to start our journey to surrogacy for a while, but we recently learned our insurance will not cover this. We will have to cover 100% of the costs. It’s just another bump in the ‘ol road.

I know for a fact we will have another child. Whether it’s by surrogacy, or adoption, we will have a brother or sister for our kiddo. Both are a ton of money. Goodness. Sooooooo, that brings me to my Go Fund Me. It’s a site dedicated to raising money for people/situations/whatever. I set up a page to begin raising money for surrogacy. In addition to the fundraising page, I hope to set up a silent auction and maybe a raffle? All in the near future.

In case you don’t know why I can’t carry another kiddo, here’s a quick catch up…

The backstory:

In December 2009 I was 36 weeks pregnant and ended up in the ER with contractions coming every minute with a lot of pain. After many tests the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong. The baby was fine, and I obviously was not. It was decided that my appendix may have burst. When I was put under and the surgeon started to work, blood poured out of my abdomen. My simple appendectomy turned into cesarean/life saving surgery. I flatlined four times and lost most of my blood. Somehow my daughter was perfectly fine and only needed a resuscitation from me being put under.

It turns out my uterus had ruptured. I have a bicornuate uterus (this means it’s heart shaped) and it tore at the seam. Just a tear the size of a dime, yet my little baby was still getting blood.

A uterine rupture can occur if the pregnant woman had previous surgery on her uterus. Before pregnancy I had NEVER had surgery of any kind, especially not on my uterus. I’ve been told there may have been a weak spot and the combo of my growing baby and movement caused the tear. According to my doctors, they could not find any record of a uterine rupture without past surgery happening, so it’s pretty much a mystery.

I have no guarantee that another pregnancy won’t cause another tear. The doctors just don’t know. What I DO know is I have my daughter, family and myself to live for. The risk is not worth it.

The entire surrogate process is so expensive, and that’s why I set this up. Side note: I definitely don’t expect this Go Fund Me to cover everything, I just hope it helps. We’re also saving money, applying for grants, and doing what we can (without going into extreme debt).

Thanks so much!

- Chelsey and Mike

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If you have a Wednesday post, please feel free to link it up below. And, feel free to link up to these blogs too… Parenting by Dummies, Project Alicia, Jenni from the Blog, In The Moment With, and Live and Love Outloud.

My hubby went through the house and changed all the lightbulbs, and before he could recycle them I said, “Wait, I can use those for this project!” He may have given me that “year, sure” look, but I really had an idea for these little bulbs. I’ve been wanting to create a hanging lightbulb herb vase FORever and now I’ve done it and I love them. I didn’t really want floral vases, I wanted little herb vases. When you pluck a bit of rosemary or sage, the smell is amazing! We have an amazing amount of herbs always available in our yard (our rosemary grows year round) and if we need a bit for cooking, it’s right there. Ready to make one for yourself? Let’s go!

Supplies:

- Old lightbulbs

- Martha Stewart’s Multi-Surface Paint

- Painter’s Tape

- Wire

Directions: 

- First we need to prep the bulbs. Make sure you are wearing protective eyewear and gloves. Prepping the bulbs involves breaking glass, and it seems to fly everywhere! Do this project in a space you’re not worried to find little bits of glass later, cause you will find little bits of glass later. Be safe.

- Use a set of pliers to pry off the little metal disk on the base of the bulb.

- Using pliers or some sort of point, crack apart the glass inside of the bulb. When it’s broken up, pore out the glass. If there are any stuck pieces, use needle nose pliers to pull them out. Break away any extra bits of glass inside the rim. Pour some water in the bulb to swish it around and get any last little teeny bits of glass.

- Wash and completely dry the outside of each bulb. Use your painters tape to set up some fun shapes on the bulb. Tear and adjust the tape to your liking.

- Paint in the spaces you prepped for painting. Let dry completely before removing the tape. TIP: I put a chopstick inside each bulb and propped them up in glasses to dry.

- So, the Martha Stewart paint requires 21 days to cure completely, but I didn’t really wait for that. Since I’m not putting this in a dishwasher, I think it’s probably ok.

- Cut a couple 10 inch sections of wire. Make a “U” shape with one of the wires, and fold up the tips on each end (see photo below) and this will be your handle. Make a rough circle with the other wire piece, loop the tips onto the circle.

- Use some needle nose pliers to twist and tighten the wire on one of the lightbulb ridges and the tips of the “U” handle. Trim the extra bits of wire.

- You’re done! Just needs a bit of wire and some smelltastic herbs.

We hung these lovely vases in our kitchen. I love it.

- Chelsey

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If you have a Wednesday post, please feel free to link it up below. And, feel free to link up to these blogs too… Parenting by Dummies, Project Alicia, Jenni from the Blog, In The Moment With, and Live and Love Outloud.